steroid injection on a splint, anyone had any experience?

[Alex_kate]

joey has just had a steroid injection in his massive splint, i just have a feeling it wont work- any one know of any horses had this and if it has worked or not???

if this doesnt work the vet sugested a blister

 

[seabiscuit]

Who is your vet Alex? As am in a similiar area...
Do not know much about steriod injections in splints, but Vicijp says that blistering is the best thing for splints.

 

[goeslikestink]

ye it does work depending on how and what splint as in broken or fused -- noramlly a splint is a knock of some sort but can be broken or fused which make it last longer and lame ..

 

[vicijp]

Never known/seen steroid injections into splints but I have come to the conclusion that any injections in any part of the leg are a waste of time (my main experience is with tendons/ligaments though).
If you do decide to blister be prepared to give 3 months field rest, and dont worry - the hair will grow back. Ive never known it to fail.
Some vets pin fire splints, doesnt work.

 

[Alex_kate]

well the blister sounded quite nasty so tried steroid first, if this doesnt work then will do the blister.
vet is john dunsford

 

[seaofdreams]

What is blistering ??
Hx

 

[Alex_kate]

i think its where they put an irritant on the skin and it swells it up and heals it? (i think)
its an old fashioned method and they use it for fractures- dont quite understand it myself!

 

[4whitesocks]

what about splintex

http://www.splintex-horsesysinc.com/

have heard brilliant things about it and am thinking of giving it a go on my boy

 

[judymoon]

blistering is fine guys! it is an irritant that draws blood flow to the affected area thus speeding up recovery. Use a water blister of some sort and don't scrub it in just brush over splint mildly. Steroid injections are usually used on soft new splints and are effective, but so is blistering. Blistering gets a bad name from idiots that use it for bad reasons! pin firing is useless on splints, there is only one problem that it does work on and thats oscillates in the ankle,

 

[Lucy_Ally]

So if you had a knock on your ankle bone for instance and a boney lump appeared that after time would go down on its own and stop hurting, you would place an irritant on the skin that causes major burns and increases the pain? Thats sound logical

The only reason that any blistering or firing works is due to the enforced rest the horse has after the procedure, there is no scientfic evidence that any of these methods do any good. In fact there is documented scientific evidence that firing has a negative impact on tendon healing. Drawing blood to the surface and creating an inflammatory reaction in the skin and underlying tissue is not going to help a splint.

 

[PapaFrita]

Blistering worked for PF. She was uncomfortable when the blister was being applied (2 days), but otherwise absolutely fine, eating for Argentina, chatting up the blokes, and full of beans. She was allowed paddock rest and tore round for a month raising merry hell, then came straight back into work and has been sound since.
It wouldn't have been my first choice of treatment had there been another available to me, and I wouldn't have done it purely for cosmetic reasons. But honestly, it's NOT that bad, although I will acknowledge that some blisters I'm sure are harsher than others.

 

[Lucy_Ally]

Its all about personal preference I guess, but I would not consider it an option for my horse and I hope that any half decent vet wouldn't either.
As a scientist I only base my opinion on something that has a proven basis to work (talk to puddicat about the difference between something being scientifically proven and something that is perceived to work), since I have read literature condemning these treatments and the experiments that have been done on tendons that has proven firing to be detrimental, I personally find the practice barbaric. You are inflicting pain primarily for cosmetic reasons with splints as they on the whole sort themselves out with time, you do not know if it was the time off, purely time or the blister that helped (and I can't see any physiological benefit to a bone by causing an inflammatory reaction in the skin

), but like I said its all personal choice.

 

[puddicat]

(talk to puddicat about the difference between something being scientifically proven and something that is perceived to work)

meow ?

 

[Bess]

No I have not had any experience of that, although my horse had a splint develop about 5 weeks ago as a result of a kick on his leg. Had the vet out because he was lame and the splint was hot and about the size of half a boiled egg. Two weeks box rest and cold hosing etc. I did go as far as buying Splintex Gold but reading the instructions which said things like 'hair loss' and box rest I decided that its a blister treatment which is unproved and box rest is usually the cure.